A Rising Tide

Nephera

Description:

Bio:

Nephera is a cleric of the Shalm, and has devoted her life to living in harmony with nature. She found faith after tragedy befell her Elven mother in the human city of Den’Sha when she was a child. As a follower of Obad-Hai, she has learned to temper her hatred of humans over the years- but resentment still dwells in her heart. Nephera journeyed to the ancient Elven town of Carok seeking the vast resources of their library.

Entry 4???
We met Oron at the gates of Illmor at dusk to find this seer the Red Prince mentioned. By horseback we traveled almost an hour out of the city, darkness setting in, when we noticed the flames of a campfire ahead. I was cautious to approach but the rogue and the sulky man-baby wanted to investigate. We circled closer and saw the shadowed snouts of four hobgoblins! I insisted we move on unnoticed, but nooo, Ser Broody McFrownyface and the thief wanted to poke the bears! I will admit, it was pretty cool seeing Avery sneak up on one of those…things and slice her sword through his shoulder. I got a few good shots in, too, but Oron got the last word…after being mauled by one of them. After the fight, I took one of the hobgoblin’s axes and chopped their heads clean off. I wanted a souvenir to give those princes. Show ‘em how real the threat was. But before we could continue on our way, three more hobgoblins appeared! We fought them off once more, looted these jerks and took their heads. Might as well have ’em and not need ’em, right? We rode on to find the Seer until we came upon a cave. Tying the horses up, we entered the cavern- me leading the way of course since I’m basically the only idiot capable of avoiding traps, which I ever so skillfully did. You’re welcome. Avery disarmed the trap before we continued on. It was when we heard the chirping of some kind of reptilian creatures, that we knew another battle was ahead of us. Kobolds! Avery tried to take advantage of our hidden position and aimed an arrow at one of them, which missed and got them squawking. Quickly, we revealed our position and struck them without mercy. Shut up, I wasn’t crying. Oron had some difficulty with a particularly crafty Kobold, who seemed to dodge him at every turn, but we finally took it down with a bit of a struggle. Finally, finally, we exited the cave into what seemed like the graveyard of a place that could have been pretty a long time ago. No leaves could be found on the trees and a crumbling building loomed overhead. After several unsuccessful lock picking attempts from our capable rogue, I kicked the door to the place in only to find mountains of decaying books and clocks. Clearly a crazy person lived here. Seriously what’s up with the clocks? We explored further, finding a room of statues labeled in frantic Elvish. Cause that screams mental stability. We then came to a room with a huge desk and more books. And then movement. Guess what, that Seer we wanted to find? She’s crazy! If Aeved ever had the sight, she’s since lost it. We struggled for answers from her and for a second I was going to be disappointed since, you know, we made the trek all the way out here just to talk to her. And then the tattoos that marked her skin started to glow. I know, right? If I hadn’t seen it first hand, I’d say that was straight bullshit too. The light seemed to burn into her flesh and the heat radiated from her as she began to convulse. Her eyes rolled back into her head and light started to glow from them as well. Her mouth opened, distorted and unnatural as light poured from there, too. Then a voice that wasn’t hers started to speak the words: ‘I am Balitra. Speak and be spoken to.’ This thing started talking about a war that was inevitable between elves and some evil ancient being. Blah blah, rising tide of destruction. This Balitra thing thinks me and Avery are some kind of key that will stop the hobgoblins from opening a portal and releasing this big bad ancient boogieman into the world! Anyway…Balitra’s light show disappeared and Aeved dropped like a sack of flour. I looked over at Oron, who also fell to the floor. His eyes were bleeding black tar like tears and he was coughing out soot. I looked over at Aeved who was vomiting black bile and then over to Avery, who- like me, wasn’t puking or bleeding. It wasn’t until after talking to her that I fully comprehended that all of that really happened- the light and the Balitra guy and the end of the world stuff. We wanted out of that place- and fast, so I did what I could to heal Oron and the Seer. We decided to take the crazy bitch with us, as it was unlikely that she’d survive on her own in there. But as soon as we left the moldy hoarder’s den, an arrow shot straight past my face and lodged itself into Avery’s leg! Attached to the arrow was a message in Elvish. ‘How taste your fear’, it read. Charming. Oron, being the disappointment that he was, started rambling on about some stalker that his men went on about and said he had to go after someone called ‘Detetar’. Guy wasted no time ditching us…asshole. And so with Avery injured and Aeved limp as a fish, it was up to me to bring us back to the Princely City in one piece. After detailing our journey to the Red Prince, leaving out the minor detail of the possessed Seer claiming that some ancient big bad was going to enter our world through a portal in the Carok library, we were unimpressed by his continued indecision. So Avery and I met with the other princes, each promising us a way to win against the hobgoblins, but always with strings attached. I wonder if Maleik is okay.